by Anna Post
2. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Return to room temperature before using.
Too Much vs. Too Little: Getting the Portions Just Right
Regardless of what menu you’re thinking of serving, it’s always better to have too much than too little. When you’re shopping for meat or fish, ask the butcher or fishmonger for their suggested raw weight to buy per person. Or check the recipes in cookbooks to get a feel for how much to purchase per person. Here are some other points to consider:
Lunch portions are generally smaller than dinner portions.
When you’re serving fewer courses, the portions can be larger.
When you’re serving multiple courses, the portions are smaller. (For example, you might serve a bowl of soup with a sandwich at lunch, a cup of soup before a main course at dinner.)
Take the weather into account as well: When it’s very hot, people tend to eat less. This is the season for food that is light, cool, and refreshing, dishes like ceviche and tuna Niçoise, chilled soups, or anything grilled with a big salad. Or take a cue from culinary India and stimulate the appetite with a spicy curry and cooling raita (yogurt dip)—but keep portions small to avoid overwhelming guests’ taste buds.
Freezing cold temperatures call for generous portions of richer, heartier food: pâtés, risottos, pasta with meat or creamy sauces, stews, braised meats in wine sauce, wild game, roasts with potatoes and gravy, casseroles and cassoulets.
Consider the length and timing of the meal—you wouldn’t serve as much food for supper on a work night as you would if you were hosting a long, leisurely multicourse Saturday night dinner with wine.
Men tend to eat more than women.
When you’re serving family style—placing platters and bowls of food directly on the table—you’ll need enough of each dish to encourage seconds. The same holds true when you’re serving a buffet where people help themselves.
If you’re serving a plated meal, you control the portions, so you probably don’t need to prepare as much extra food as you would for a buffet or serving family style—but you should still have enough food so you can offer seconds to those who request it.
The Bread Box
It’s become a puzzle whether or not to serve bread with a meal. For some people it’s a critical meal element; for others it’s a low-carb-diet no-no. The split tends to run along gender lines, with men saying “yes” and women “no thanks.” Many restaurants no longer serve bread as a matter of course, not wanting customers to fill up before the main event. So, when is bread a good thing?
When it’s artisanal, freshly made, and warm. Who can resist fresh bread in all its varieties from a farmers’ market, bakery, or specialty food store? Breads that can hold their own and earn a place at any table include baguettes (long and thin), boules (round), focaccia (a flat, chewy sheet), rolls, biscuits, challah and brioche (eggy) and croissants (flaky), semolina, white, rye, whole wheat, apple-raisin, seeded-crust, and herbed.
When there’s a sauce worth savoring. Definitely offer bread when serving stews, bouillabaisse or mussels, hearty soups, sauced pastas, braises, and anything in garlic butter. Pick a good, crusty white bread that stands up to but won’t overwhelm the sauce.
With the salad or cheese course. Having already eaten their main course, guests are more likely to enjoy bread guilt-free—and you don’t even need to serve butter or olive oil.
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Sop It All Up!
Who can resist the last bit of sauce or gravy? In a restaurant or at someone else’s house, put a bite-sized piece of bread into the gravy or sauce, spear it with your fork, sop well, and eat. At home, go ahead and hold the bread in your fingers while you mop the plate. The same goes for hearty soup: At home, dip away. At a restaurant, tear off a piece, drop it in the soup, and eat with a spoon.
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How to Serve Bread
At most meals, put sliced bread, rolls, or biscuits in a napkin- or cloth-lined container such as a basket. Bread can be served buffet style or passed at the table and is put on the dinner plate or bread plate. At a more formal dinner, place the bread on bread plates before the meal begins. If you’d like guests to slice their own bread, provide a cutting board and knife, and wrap the bread so that guests don’t hold it with bare hands while cutting.
Butter is served several ways: Place a stick of room-temperature butter on a small serving dish with a butter knife, or slice a stick of butter and serve the pats on a small plate with a small fork. At a formal meal, pats of butter can be put on bread plates ahead of time along with the bread.
Bread is also served with olive oil. Its rich flavor is an ideal and healthy alternative to butter. Use only high-quality extra virgin olive oil, and enhance the flavor with garlic, hot peppers, or herbs for variation. Serve the olive oil in a cruet or small dish with a spoon on a saucer, and plan on using bread plates. Guests spoon or pour the olive oil onto their plates, then dip their bread into it.
DIFFERENT PARTIES, DIFFERENT MENUS
What to serve when? Here are some basic guidelines:
Brunch
2 courses, served buffet or family style or plated: a mixture of hot and cold breakfast and lunch dishes
Beverages: juices, hot coffee, and tea; Bloody Marys, mimosas
Luncheon
2 to 3 courses:
First course: soup, salad, or appetizer
Main course: soup, composed salad, sandwiches, quiches, poached fish or a small-portion balanced plate of protein, vegetable, and starch
Dessert: fruit, cookies, sorbet, fruit tart
Beverages: water, juices, iced or hot tea or coffee, a light wine or Champagne
Tea
Elegant tea sandwiches: miniature sandwiches of a thin filling on thin bread
Small cookies, scones, pastries, cupcakes, or slices of cake
Beverages: tea and coffee, hot or iced (optional: sherry or Champagne)
Cocktails
An assortment of appetizers (hot or cold), crudités, cheese and fruit, breads, crackers, dips and chips, olives, nuts
Dinner—simple
2 courses:
Main course and dessert
Or 3 courses:
Salad, main course, and dessert or first course, main course, and dessert
Beverages: water, wine, milk, beer, coffee, tea
Dinner—all out!
Up to 6 courses: (hors d’oeuvres, served before the meal)
First course: soup, fruit, shellfish, or small composed plate
Second course: fish (omitted if shellfish is served as a first course)
Third course: main course, usually meat or fowl, vegetables, and starch
Fourth course: salad (may be combined with a cheese course)
Fifth course: cheese and or fruit*
Sixth course: dessert, followed by coffee and cordials
Beverages: water, wine, coffee, cordials
*Traditionally the cheese course came after dessert; now it’s up to you.
Food Bling
We’re talking luxury food here—caviar, truffles, and fancy chocolates. Sure they’re expensive, but a little goes a long way—and in these instances, less can be more.
Caviar
Caviar is the salted roe (eggs) of sturgeon. Caviar has a wonderful briny, nutty, mineral flavor; each little grain literally pops in your mouth. The most celebrated caviars—sevruga, osetra, and beluga (from least to most expensive)—come from the Caspian Sea and are black, grey, or golden in color. Because of overharvesting, however, the fish have become endangered, resulting in periodic bans on the import of Caspian Sea caviar and limits on production. American-produced caviars provide a more ecologically responsible—and much less expensive—alternative. Red caviar is actually salmon roe, and each grain, or berry, is quite large. It’s usually used as a garnish.
Store caviar on ice in the coldest part of your fridge, but don’t freeze it. It’s best used as soon as possible after opening. Serve it icy cold so the grains don’t co
llapse. When serving it straight, put it in a glass dish on top of crushed ice or snow. Never put caviar in contact with metal—it will develop a horrible metallic taste. Little spoons made of horn or mother of pearl are made for serving caviar, but a wooden spoon will do in a pinch. Don’t mush up the caviar—it’s very delicate. Lift and spoon it gently.
How much caviar should you buy? It depends on how you’re going to use it.
One ounce of caviar =
Four 1-teaspoon servings
Eight to ten ½-teaspoon servings
Twenty scant ¼-teaspoon servings
Straight up—for real enthusiasts: ½ to 1 ounce per person
On toast points or in an appetizer where you want to feature the caviar: ½-teaspoon servings
As a garnish: Scant ¼-teaspoon servings
A 2-ounce jar will do nicely for four people if it’s served with crackers or toast points.
How to Eat Caviar
When caviar is served in a bowl with a little spoon, gently scoop a spoonful onto a toast point, cracker, or your plate. Then, if they’re offered, top off the caviar with sour cream, crème fraîche, chopped egg, or onion, using the little spoons provided. When caviar is presented already prepared or as an appetizer, just pop it into your mouth. Most important: If you have to share caviar, don’t be piggy.
Best Ways to Serve Caviar
On toast points—little triangles of thin, crustless, lightly toasted white bread. (Pepperidge Farm thin white bread is perfect. Place small triangles on a baking sheet and bake at 200ºF until just browned.)
On toasted, great-quality, thinly sliced whole grain or rye bread.
On top-quality home-style potato chips (fun!).
Accompanied by sour cream or crème fraîche, chopped onion, chopped hard-cooked egg, or thin lemon wedges.
To garnish omelets, with a dollop of crème fraîche.
With blinis (tiny yeast-leavened buckwheat pancakes) and sour cream.
Scoop tiny, steamed red potatoes, slice off the bottom, fill with sour cream mixed with minced red onion, and top with caviar.
Any of the above with Champagne or chilled vodka.
Truffles
The very name makes our mouths water and our noses quiver. A truffle is the edible fruiting part of underground fungi of the genus Tuber. The fungi have a symbiotic relationship with certain trees, like oaks, and are harvested in the late fall to early winter, “sniffed out” by pigs or trained dogs. The most famous are the white truffle (Tuber magnatum pico) from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, and the black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) from the Périgord region of southwestern France. Each has a fabulous, distinct aroma and a flavor that brings sauces and egg, potato, risotto, and pasta dishes to sublime heights. Speaking of sublime heights, truffles may be the ugliest and most expensive food items on the planet. White truffles can, in a good year, average $4,000 a pound (a record $330,000 was paid in 2007 at auction for a 3.3-lb. white truffle). Black truffles are less pricey, averaging $300 to $800 per pound, depending on the season. If you find fresh truffles featured on a restaurant menu, be sure you’re clear about the price before you order or you’ll be in for severe sticker shock.
Don’t despair of never experiencing this delicacy—a little truffle goes a long, long way, and you don’t have to purchase fresh ones to enjoy the experience. Truffle salt is a delicious way to add the aroma to foods—it’s incredible sprinkled on French fries. Truffle honey pairs beautifully with a nice ripe Taleggio cheese. Truffles also come packed in water or oil or as a paste. Be sure to add them to your dish at the last minute. If you’re lucky enough to meet a fresh truffle, shave it over pasta with olive oil or on scrambled eggs with butter. Fresh truffles don’t last long—just a few days—so if you have enough for more than one or two servings, by all means celebrate your good fortune with a party! Store truffles in dry uncooked rice in a sealed jar in the refrigerator.
Chocolate
Who can say no to chocolate? Truffles (the chocolate kind, so named because they look like the fungal ones) and specialty chocolates make a great dessert or a little après dessert with coffee. As in the movie Chocolat, today’s chocolatiers are pairing dark and milk chocolate with the exotic and the unusual: Think curry, chiles, green tea, lavender, pink peppercorns, chipotle roasted pecans, rosemary with juniper berry, or cardamom with rose hips. You can also find chocolates that are gorgeous to look at, covered with “foils” of gold and copper or patterns of greens, blues, reds, and lavenders. And for a twist, seek out handmade chocolate-covered toffees and caramels with sea salts. Unlike inexpensive milk chocolate candy bars, dark chocolate is very satisfying—just a little does the trick—and is even reported to have heart-healthy properties. Whatever you choose, chocolate is an elegant finish to any meal.
More of the Good Stuff
Remember, a little of these delicacies goes a long way. Some, like artisanal oils and vinegars, may be a tad hard to find but are worth the effort. Look for specialty foods at gourmet markets, farmers’ markets, and specialty stores. You can also find some interesting food products online or through mail-order ads in the back of gourmet food magazines.
Domestic or European imported artisanal cheeses
Foraged (by professionals, not by you!) mushrooms: morels, chanterelles, porcini
Smoked fish, such as salmon
Pâtés: meat, fish, or vegetable
Rillettes: slowly cooked meat (usually pork) or game, mixed into a paste with rendered fat
Confit: slowly cooked duck legs, preserved in their own rendered fat
Artisanal honeys: chestnut, lavender, acacia, or linden to serve with cheese
Single-producer olive oils: for dipping or a finishing drizzle
Specialty vinegars: balsamic, raspberry, Champagne, sherry, herb
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A Tip from Anna
SHE SELLS SEA SALT
A world of beautiful sea salts is available—from U.S. varieties like red and black salts from Hawaii to Maldon salt from Britain, grey fleur de sel from France, and pink Murray River salt from Australia. Sea salts are pretty, and they taste better, too. Plus, they’re full of essential trace minerals. Almost every country with a coastline produces sea salt. Some salts are chunky and some flaky, but because sea salts are coarser than fine table salt, they provide more of a flavor wallop, so you’ll need less salt—a plus for anyone watching salt intake. A pinch or a sprinkle ought to do it. Find a tiny spoon to place alongside. But be careful of ones made of silver—they tarnish if left in the saltcellar beyond dinner. (We use tiny musse l shells as scoops.)
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Delicious Reading: Our Favorite Cookbooks
Or maybe we should say our favorite cooks! These tried-and-true food tomes offer inspiration for recipes and presentation:
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker: The Joy of Cooking
Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics; Barefoot in Paris
Martha Stewart: What to Have for Dinner; Entertaining
The Silver Palate: The New Basics Cookbook
Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Carrie Brown, John Werner, and Michael McLaughlin: The Jimtown Store Cookbook
Molly Stevens: All About Braising
Editors, Cook’s Illustrated: The New Best Recipe
Nancy Silverton: A Twist from the Wrist (crafting good, attractive food from quality pantry staples)
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Chapter Eight
Delicious Drinks
If food provides the sustenance to a celebration, drinks—alcoholic or non—add the fun. You’ll want to pay just as much attention to choosing drinks as you do to planning your menu. A luncheon or afternoon event might skip anything alcoholic and feature lemonade, iced teas, or fruit juice spritzers. At cocktail hour, offer a seasonal cocktail, like a Lemon Drop martini in the spring or a manhattan in the winter—easier on you and your pocketbook than having an open bar. Most
likely, you’ll serve wine, or even a specialty beer, with your dinner menu. Coffee or a mint tea, perhaps with a liqueur or vintage port, could bring the evening to a perfect close.
Choosing Wine
While some foods pair naturally with certain drinks, such as chili or beef carbonnade with beer or a hearty pasta bolognese with a Zinfandel, there are no longer any carved-in-stone “rules” about serving white wines with white meat and fish or reds with red meat. Nowadays, it’s simply a matter of creating a pleasing pairing, choosing a wine (or other beverage) that complements—and doesn’t overwhelm—the food. On the other hand, if you have a really spectacular wine to share, you might plan your entire menu around it.
Sound complicated? It’s not, really. Expert help is on hand at your local wine merchant. Bring him your menu, and he’ll help you choose complementary wines within your budget. You can also find good advice on Web sites that feature food and wine, or by reading up on wines in magazines, reference guides, and consumer publications (see To Learn More About Wine, page 99).
WHAT TO SERVE WHEN
Aperitif: Sherry, Lillet, Dubonnet, Campari, Cinzano, vermouth, Champagne, white wine, rosé
Soup or appetizer course: White, light red, rosé, or sparkling wine
Fish course: White or red wine
Main course: White or red wine
Dessert: Ice wine, moscato, vin santo, sparkling wine
After dinner / digestif: Cognac, brandy, single malt Scotch, Port, liqueurs (Grand Marnier, crème de menthe, Frangelico, Baileys, Amaretto), eaux de vie (Pear William, Calvados, schnapps, slivovitz), grappa, Limoncello, a Post favorite! Digestifs (Averna, Fernet Branca)
Wine and Food Pairings
WINE: RED
Barbera:
Description:
Fruity.
